Aquapaw Equine Grooming Tool
September, 2019
Background
This project began with feedback on Aquapaw’s Pet Bathing Tool; customers were asking for a horse grooming product that incorporated the same sprayer-and-scrubber-in-one design.
In order to find out if there was a product opportunity, a number of prototypes were mocked up and a few horse owners were recruited to bathe their horses.
The first prototypes were crude, made by cannibalizing other products and gluing silicone parts together, but they functionally served as a great starting point to evaluate if this style of grooming would offer any benefits for horse bathing.
Discoveries
Rinse + Curry
Many horse owners described how they needed to rinse and curry their horse after a ride, without using any soap, to remove the sweat and dust from their horse’s coat. Our prototypes showed potential to combine these two processes into one and save time.
Washing Underneath
Soaking and scrubbing/currying the underside of a horse can be very difficult. A sprayer scrubber like what we were considering seemed to make this process much simpler and easier to carry out.
Forearm Drip
This isn’t necessarily a new problem for horse owners but with this product concept we saw an opportunity to reduce the potential for water to drip down the arm of the bather when they’re bathing up high.
Grip + Control
We found that most users were asking for much more grip as this was a big issue. Additionally, a few of our testers tended to hold the hose about three feet from the sprayer head.
Hoof and Joint Washing
Almost all of the horse owners that tried out the concept remarked on how it could be used to wash their horse’s lower extremities.
Gentler Face Washing
We learned that face washing tends to be a tedious part of bathing a horse in that many owners would either use a sponge or not clean their horse’s face altogether.
The Final Product
Key Features
Multiple Flow Settings
The final design has an OFF, LOW, and HIGH setting that can be toggled through using the simple push-button on the top.
Less Forearm Drip
The lower flap helps to prevent forearm drip and allows the user to be more controlled in how they soak and curry their horse.
Firm yet Flexible
We paid particular attention to the layout of the water spray, the size and shape of the nubs, and the durometer of the silicone cover to make sure it would be an effective as possible; even on their joints and sensitive areas.
